Janice was fostered by Mickey and Maggie Horton in 1976. However in 1978 Janice's real mother Joanna returned to Salem and secretly began to see her daughter. The two planned a trip to Disneyland, and one night they ran off. Mickey and Maggie searched desperately for Janice without any clues as to what happened. Luckily Janice had mentioned to Hope about her trip to Disneyland with Joanna, and the FBI found the two in Florida after Joanna had a heart attack. Joanna returned to Salem to have surgery, and afterwards she took a job working at Bob Anderson's house as a maid. When Hope told Janice Joanna was her real mother Janice was curious and wanted to know her mother better.

In 1978 Janice had an accident on the docks while playing with Melissa, she fell into the water, and was rescued by Chris Kositchek, but fell into a coma. Janice's mother Joanna would battle with Maggie over Janice, and in the end Joanna would win custody of Janice.

After Maggie went to visit Janice in 1987, she decided to come back to Salem with her. She soon got a job as an intern at Salem University hospital, and grew close to Mike while having an adversarial relationship with Bill. In reality, she and Bill were romantically involved, and when Mike tried to pursue their relationship, Janice tried to let him down easily. When the family learned of her relationship with Bill, it almost tore the family apart. Janice had decided to leave Salem, and was walking down on the docks thinking about her decision when she was murdered by the Riverfront Knifer.